


A Bird Amongst Thorns

by TheDVirus



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort/Angst, Foreplay, Kissing, M/M, Male Slash, Nygmobblepot, nygmobblepotvalentine, nymobblepositivity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-24 01:12:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9693326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDVirus/pseuds/TheDVirus
Summary: For the Nygmobblepot Valentine's Day Exchange!As per a request from @ji-chi.Oswald returns to the mansion having failed to help Ed break up with Isabella and both of them are forced to confront their true feelings...about each other.





	

How dare she?!  
The slut!  
Oswald stomped up the steps to the mansion, raging at Isabella’s presumption.  
She ‘wouldn’t’ let Ed go?! Who said she had a choice in the matter?!  
As he slammed the front door behind him, his mind raced through the options available to him and there were many.

Poison? A swim in Gotham Bay with concrete blocks strapped to her feet? Cutting her brakes?

‘Well?’

Oswald bit back the reactive ‘’Well' what?!’ as he realised Ed had waited for him to return.  
He took a deep breath and leant his cane in its usual nook, ignoring the eager way Ed was hovering in the doorway to the den.

‘How’d she take it?’ Ed pressed.

‘She didn’t’, Oswald grumbled before waving a hand dramatically, ‘As far as she’s concerned, you’re her one and only. End of story’.

He brushed past Ed and threw himself onto the sofa by the fire, leaning his head on the back of his hand.  
Ed followed him in, rubbing his face with both hands in obvious distress.

‘What am I going to do now?’ he worried.

Oswald fixed him with an irritated glare.

‘I suppose you're going to have to get your head out of your ass and make a decision’, he snapped.

Ed’s eyes widened at the sharpness of Oswald’s tone. He lowered his hands to his sides as uncertainty at what he had just heard caused his brow to crease. Oswald had never taken that tone with him before. Not even when he thought Ed had cost him the election.

‘What?’ Ed asked.

Oswald rolled his eyes at the idiotic question. 

‘You heard me’, he replied, ‘Or are you too busy listening to sad little violins and feeling sorry for yourself?’

Ed frowned as Oswald mimed someone playing said instrument with a look of exaggerated sorrow on his face.

‘It's not self pity!’ he cried, ‘It's worry! What if, what if she doesn't take it well?! What if I-’

Oswald stood up abruptly and walked to the nearby drinks cabinet. He poured himself a scotch and downed it in one long series of gulps.

‘You think that's maybe her prerogative?’ Oswald asked, smacking his lips as he began to refill the glass, ‘Considering you didn't even have the courage to break up with her yourself?’

As he raised the now full glass to his lips, he suddenly felt his movement arrested. Ed had placed a hand over the mouth of the glass.

‘You offered to help!’ he said, beginning to try and take the glass away.

‘I shouldn't have had to!’ Oswald barked.

He yanked his glass out of Ed’s reach, spilling some scotch onto the carpet.

‘Why are you being such a wimp about this?!’ he continued, ignoring the growing stain, ‘Just treat it like a bandaid: one rip and it's over! She’s out of our-I mean your life! For good!’

‘Why are you acting like this?’ Ed demanded, ‘I thought you were my friend!’

Oswald put the glass back down on the cabinet with a sharp tap. 

‘I _am_ your friend! That’s why it disgusts me to see you like this! To see what this woman has done to you!’

‘You don't know what it's like’, Ed said, shaking his head, ‘To give up someone you love. To sacrifice the best thing that ever happened to you so that person can be happy!’

Oswald’s fists were clenched so tight he thought his knuckles would burst through the skin.

 _‘Oh yeah Ed, I don’t have a clue what that’s like!'_ he thought venomously, _‘I don’t know what it’s like to say nothing when I see some random whore kissing the one I love because for some reason you think she makes you happy when you barely know her!’_

Oswald held up a hand in surrender, the emerging smile on his face tinged with deliberate, spiteful calm.

‘Fine’, he said, ‘Whatever you say: I don’t understand. You’re the smart one. _You_ know _everything!_ So 'riddle me this' Ed: why are you still here talking to me and not doing what needs to be done?’

Ed grabbed the glass Oswald had just put down and threw it into the fireplace. The glass shattered and the flames billowed and crackled when the alcohol made contact. Oswald rolled his eyes at Ed’s deliberately dramatic gesture.

‘Because I'm afraid!’ Ed yelled, ‘Happy?!’

Oswald’s mouth grew tight and he glared up at Ed. Green eyes as cold as the fire in the grate was hot clashed with glinting dark eyes with pinpricks of light in their depths.

‘Afraid?!’ Oswald said with a mocking laugh, ‘What's the worst she can do?!’

‘It’s the worst _I_ can do that worries me! I knew you weren’t listening this morning! You know you can be so self-centred sometimes?!’

‘So I’m supposed to just sit there and listen to you endlessly whine and fret?! What exactly do you love about this woman Ed?! Apart from who she reminds you of?!’

‘They are totally different people!’ Ed retorted.

His eyes flicking away for the briefest of moments signalled to Oswald that his point had hit home. Ed had doubts. Carried away by his anger, Oswald drove the barbed point in further.

‘Everyone looks the same when they’re dead’, Oswald hissed.

 

A thunderous silence crashed into the room. Oswald’s stomach twisted as he saw Ed’s face blanche at first then harden.

‘What did you say?’ Ed asked, voice low and dangerous.

Oswald recognised it for the challenge it was: Ed had heard him perfectly. He knew he couldn’t back down now. Hell, he didn’t want to!

‘What you needed to hear’, he said coldly, ‘You know nothing about this woman. What you’re so in love with is nothing but a fantasy. A pretty little lie you cling to. A short lived one because we both know what’ll happen if you stay with her! She’s just one more body to bury!’

‘I’m not the only one lying though am I Mr Penguin?!’ Ed snarled.

Oswald bristled at the use of his more formal title. 

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘That night, right here on the couch, after I got hurt saving your life. You weren’t leaning in for just a hug were you?’

Oswald gaped and babbled giving Ed the chance to continue his rant.

‘And that morning in my office, you knew exactly what you wanted to say to me but you didn’t! You think I didn’t notice all those spiteful scowls? The curl of your lip every time I mentioned Isabella?!’

‘How _dare_ you-?!’

‘Someone has to!’ Ed yelled, jabbing a finger into Oswald’s chest, ‘Because you’re too much of a coward to admit how you feel! Now is the perfect time to tell me! But instead you would rather see me in a relationship you hate instead of telling me the truth?!’

Oswald glared up at him but beneath the affronted anger, Ed could see fear of rejection, self-hatred and sorrow. So much emotion, it was about to spill over.

‘Why can’t you just _say_ it?!’ Ed demanded, grabbing Oswald’s shoulders, ‘Why can’t you just say that you have feelings for-!’

Oswald swung a hand half-heartedly at Ed in a half-closed fist. He intended to miss, the gesture only designed to break the connection between he and Ed but he gasped when he felt his wrist encased in Ed’s strong grip.

‘And why are you pushing me away?’ Ed asked quietly, ‘You need to tell me the truth’.

Oswald bristled and broke Ed’s grip by painfully wrenching his wrist free.

‘Or what?!’ Oswald shouted, ‘Well?! What are you going to do about it Ed?!’

 _‘Stop looking at me like I’m crazy!’_ Oswald screamed internally, _‘Go on! Just go back to her! Just go away! Leave me alone! It’s not like you care how I feel! I shouldn’t have to tell you! You should know damn it!’_

Overcome with anger and heartbreak (as well as the knowledge he was being incredibly unfair), Oswald grabbed Ed’s hands and held them tightly so they were clasped around his neck.

‘You going to wring my neck too if I do something you don’t like?!’

 

Ed’s eyes widened. Oswald could feel his fingers were slack but frozen as if Ed was deliberately making an effort not to move a single muscle. The shocked look on Ed’s face and his hesitancy to react to Oswald’s hurtful jibes only made Oswald angrier.

 _‘Why won’t you fight back?!’_ he yelled telepathically at Ed but yelled aloud:

‘Don’t you get it?! This darkness in you will never go away because it’s part of you! I’m the only one who understands! The only one who can handle you! Who loves that part of you! She can’t! She can’t have you Ed! I won’t-I won’t let her!’

There was another ringing silence. Both men stood like statues, one breathing heavily from expunged emotion, the other silent, eyes flicking like a computer doing calculations.  
Oswald made a wordless noise of shock and despair at what he had just admitted in the heat of the moment. How could he have done this? Confessed something so precious in a mindless tirade designed to hurt?!  
Oswald couldn’t take the damning silence anymore and flung Ed’s hands away from him, turning on his heel to make for the refuge of his bedroom.  
But Ed grabbing one of his wrists again halted him.  
His touch was gentle but firm.

‘You won’t ‘let’ her?’ Ed repeated quietly.

Oswald turned slowly, no longer bothering to try and hide the tears spilling from his eyes.  
It wasn’t meant to be like this!  
His love for Ed was supposed to be a source of warmth and light. Not something he resented or that hurt him so badly! Not something that would make him lash out at the only person that mattered!

Oswald didn’t try to pull away as Ed drew him back towards him.  
He braced himself, expecting a punch to the face.  
He deserved it.  
He gasped when he suddenly felt Ed’s crotch beneath his hand.  
Ed had placed it there and there was a hard bulge beneath Oswald’s fingers.  
He looked up at Ed’s face and saw his cheeks were coloured.  
Oswald’s heart was hammering as he realised what that meant.

‘Ed, I…I’m…Let me go’, Oswald said quietly, standing dumbly, at an utter loss of what else to say.

Ed obeyed, letting go of Oswald’s hand.  
Oswald turned his head, deliberately avoiding Ed’s eyes but did not try to retreat up the stairs again.  
He didn’t know what to do now.  
He was exhausted, hurt and…and lost.  
Then he felt a long finger slide under his chin.  
Overwhelmed by his emotions, Oswald let Ed tilt his face upwards. He felt one of Ed’s thumbs trace one of the trails his tears were leaving on his cheeks.

Then, suddenly, Ed kissed him.

Ed tasted the salt from Oswald’s tears and felt the warmth from Oswald’s cheek leave a blush on his dry lips. He drew back and saw Oswald’s eyes fixed on him.  
They were wide with shock but Ed saw the eyelids flicker in longing and Oswald lick his lips subconsciously.  
Ed felt his arousal pulse once more.  
He was not an emotional man. To see Oswald erupt like that had been breathtaking: all of that fire behind ice like eyes was a potent combination. It was as if the room was charged with atmosphere: a gathering storm that had to be broken before the air could be calm once more.  
And to think all those strong feelings were centred on him.  
It was…intoxicating.

‘How can I let you go?’ Ed said breathlessly, ‘When I can finally have you?’

‘’Fi-finally?’’ Oswald asked, licking his lips once more, imagining feeling the warmth of Ed’s lips on his.

They were drawing closer and closer, lips parting in expectation.

‘I… didn't think you felt the same’, Ed whispered, ‘Now I know’.

‘No. You don’t’, Oswald sighed as he grabbed Ed’s tie and dragged him down to his level.

The kiss was fiercer and more animalistic than Ed could have ever imagined, Oswald’s frustration and longing finally unleashed. Ed moaned as Oswald shoved his tongue into Ed’s mouth, exploring and tasting. It was as if Oswald was showing him physical proof of how wrong he had been.  
And it felt so right!  
The sensation was so unlike how he kissed Isabella. She was demure and pliable, always letting Ed dictate the pace but always subtly preventing him from going too roughly. She liked to make love gently. Almost quietly. Like the librarian she was.  
Oswald was pure hunger. He was kissing Ed as though he could never get enough of him. The feeling of being desired so fiercely only inflamed Ed’s arousal and before he knew it, he had grabbed the back of Oswald’s head, his fingers entwining in the raven hair. He pulled Oswald even closer, inviting his exploration and smiled as he heard Oswald give a guttural moan of approval.  
The shock of Oswald pulling away a few moments later was akin to a drowning man coming up for air.

They looked at each other, both panting and simultaneously uncertain and excited about what was going to happen next.

‘I'm an idiot aren't I?’ Ed asked breathlessly, trying in vain to smooth his crumpled tie.

‘We both are’, Oswald replied shakily, ‘We could have been doing this from the beginning!’

Ed took Oswald’s shoulders firmly and steered him so his back was to the wall. He placed both hands on either side of Oswald, using his height to press him against the wall. Oswald gasped at Ed’s powerful display of dominance and kissed his chin in approval. 

‘Let’s make up for lost time then’, Ed growled and this time, he took charge.

Ed nipped lightly at Oswald’s lips. He teasingly pulling away when Oswald tried to envelope his lips in a deep kiss. Oswald smiled, appreciating the playfulness and stuck a tongue out, trying to catch Ed’s lips like snowflakes. Ed entwined his own tongue with Oswald and followed it back into his mouth, sucking on it like a sweet.  
Oswald’s hips bucked reflexively at the rough kiss and he felt Ed’s lips curl upwards in a smile as he let loose a curious ‘hmm?’  
The reason for the noise became all too clear when Oswald felt Ed’s fingers stroke his crotch. He arched his back as his hips bucked once more, Ed’s tantalizing, rhythmic stroking spurring on his own ecstasy.  
Determined not to let Ed have all the fun, Oswald pulled away from the kiss. He laughed as he saw Ed’s glasses had steamed up.  
He teasingly touched Ed’s nose with the tip of his finger.

‘Fair warning’, he grinned, ‘I like it rough’.

He gasped as Ed cupped his balls through his trousers, fondling their weight.

‘That's not a warning’, Ed growled, ‘It’s an invitation’.

Ed’s dark smile made Oswald’s heart flutter in his chest. He reached up with shaking hands and took off Ed’s glasses.  
He threw them safely onto the couch and loosened Ed’s tie. He unbuttoned the top button of Ed’s shirt.  
Oswald drew closer and was rewarded with Ed leaning forwards to grant him better access.  
Oswald kissed Ed’s neck lightly, lapping gently with his tongue before suddenly biting into Ed’s neck without warning. Ed hissed in relish as he felt the sharpness of Oswald’s teeth and his intake of cold breath against his warm skin. Then Oswald was licking the bite marks he had just inflicted with tender attention, lathing them slowly with the tip of his tongue.

Ed had never felt like this.  
The dual sensations of pain and pleasure were spellbinding!  
He felt so alive! As if every nerve ending was alight! Hungry for something so dark but so enticing!  
His desire for Miss Kringle and Isabella had been like a candle.  
His desire for Oswald was an inferno.  
An inferno that was only stoked higher by Oswald’s husky whispering against his flesh.

‘I think I mentioned I like it rough’, he was saying, ‘But I can be so…’

Feeling Oswald move away, Ed’s eyes flicked open.  
He watched Oswald’s head move downwards and before he knew it, Oswald was kneeling in front of him and was unzipping his fly.  
Ed froze as he realised what was coming next.  
And at the realization that he wanted it so badly!

Oswald interpreted Ed’s lack of resistance as a silent invitation to continue.  
Ed felt a blush rise to his cheeks as Oswald reached into his underwear and caressed his cock. Oswald’s eyes lit up at the girth of the hard length he felt between his fingers.  
He gave it an experimental stroke and Ed moaned reflexively.

‘…gentle’, Oswald whispered, ‘Feather light’.

Oswald breathed huskily as he felt Ed’s clever fingers ruffle his hair in encouragement. He looked up at Ed as he continued to stroke.  
Ed’s eyes were half lidded, as if in a trance. His desirous gaze was transfixed on Oswald and Oswald alone.

‘Beautiful’, Ed whispered.

Oswald’s jaw dropped and he halted his stroking as he realised Ed was talking about him.

Ed took advantage of Oswald’s open mouth to lean down and kiss him again.  
Oswald gave a muffled moan as Ed gripped his hair harder, locking him in place as he claimed Oswald’s mouth as his own.  
Because of course it was his.  
It had always been for him.  
Oswald gave it to him and as he felt Ed begin to raise him to his feet, it felt like ascending to heaven.

Ed’s hands drifted downwards and back, cupping Oswald’s ass cheeks as he stood back on his feet. He pulled Oswald closer and delighted at Oswald’s gasp as their erections touched. Despite the material of their trousers acting as a barrier, they both felt like they could feel the heat: the undeniable need to make contact. 

‘I want you Ed’, Oswald pleaded, grinding his hips deliberately and sadistically against Ed’s, ‘Take me upstairs. Now. Please. I need you’.

He tried to lift a leg up in order to wrap it around Ed for extra convincing but winced at the pain in his knee. He tried to surreptitiously lower it but Ed had noticed.

‘Such a pretty song you sing’, Ed purred, ‘How can I refuse?’

Before Oswald knew what was happening, Ed had scooped him up bridal style.  
Giggling at the sensation of being carried as well as the romantic implications of Ed’s bold display of strength, Oswald reached out and grabbed Ed’s glasses as they passed the sofa.  
He tucked them into Ed’s breast pocket as they headed for the stairs and the bed that awaited them on the next floor.  
As Ed began to climb, he heard Oswald speak his name in a small voice.

‘Ed?’ 

‘Hmm?’

‘I love you’.

Ed nuzzled his chin into Oswald’s hair, a warm weightlessness crashing over him.  
He had had no idea how much he had needed to hear those words aloud.  
He replied instinctively.

‘I love you too’.

‘Ed?’

‘Hmm?’

‘What about Isabelle?’ 

Ed looked down at Oswald’s anxious, upturned face. Leaning down, Ed kissed him lovingly, ignoring Oswald’s obviously deliberate mispronunciation of his ex-girlfriend’s name.  
As he began to draw away, he smiled at Oswald’s obvious eagerness to continue from the way his neck craned upwards.

‘Who?’ Ed asked serenely.


End file.
